Not quite right…

I still had the red snapper…

…that my Bintulu brother-in-law gave us when he came back to Sibu for the Ching Ming Festival and it had been sitting in the freezer all this while; I don’t know why my missus never took it out to cook and the other day, I decided that I would do it and get it out of the way once and for all. I always have this thing about stuff lying idle in the freezer or the refrigerator, probably because I am moderately OCD. Hehehehehe!!!

I had these ingredients from my garden – the big daun kunyit (tumeric leaves) for wrapping and I did cut a bit into thin strips, the curry leaves and the serai (lemon grass) and also the daun kesum (Vietnamese coriander)…

I also pounded these…

…garlic, shallots, chillies, kunyit (turmeric) and lengkuas (galangal) and I used the paste to rub the fish, both sides and also inside…

…before placing it on a bed of the big kunyit leaves.

Then I stuffed the inside with some of the daun kesum and the serai and I placed all the rest on top of the fish before covering it with another layer of the daun kunyit and wrapping it all up and putting it in the oven to bake for over 30 minutes.

The fragrance filled the whole house and I was anticipating something really very very nice. Finally, it was done…

I saw this lady on tv and she said that if the fish eye is white, then it is cooked. Hmmmm…that’s new to me! I never took note of that before…but yes, indeed, it was done…

…to perfection.

However, we all thought it was just all right, nothing to shout about. I have done something a lot simpler with ikan buris and ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret) and both turned out really great. Perhaps this way of cooking is not quite right for red snappers. I had it served sweet and sour once…

*At Fisherman Restaurant*

…and it was very nice and if I am not wrong, they use the head for fish head curry (you can have a choice between this or the more expensive ikan tapah). Maybe if I had deep-fried or grilled it first before wrapping it all up, it would be nicer but I guess I will never know – for some reason or other, I never buy this fish from the market myself.

10 thoughts on “Not quite right…”

Wow a fish can last that long in your fridge. Mine will be gone within two days. The boys love fish and I will usually cook it as soon as I get them.

That’s the best…or buy them frozen and keep them frozen. I worry about the sellers defrosting the fish to sell and when nobody buys, they will freeze it again and defrost it the next day and by the time somebody buys the fish, it is not nice anymore.

I don’t know why she did not cook this last one…for so long. Her brother gave quite a lot to us, she cooked some and I did cook some too but this one was left behind, dunno why.

You come to my house and check my freezer. Need your help to finish off 2 big fishes from CNY. Tapah!!

Love what you did to your fish. Never try it like that.

CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! Oh my!!! They’re fossilised already. Muahahahaha!!!! I had something done like that once at a restaurant here but it was an ikan terubok, somebody brought his own fresh from Mukah – so very nice. Too bad not on the menu or I certainly would go back for more.

Perhaps the fish has been kept in the freezer for far too long. That’s why it was not as nice as what you expected it to be.

Possibly! And she would go on and on and on about how fresh the fish her brother gives to us regularly and the ones she buys from wherever too and I keep telling her that when they are kept in the freezer for so long, it will no longer be all that fresh and not all that nice anymore. Unfortunately everything I say falls on deaf ears, bounces off the wall like rubber balls. 😦